I'm a big fan of the Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin books by Rex Stout. The character Nero Wolfe (who is an eccentric genius), hates the use of the word "contact" as a verb. In one of the books, he burns a dictionary because it says that "contact" can be a verb. I don't know why this has stuck with me (and certainly language has evolved since the books were written so that now it is perfectly acceptable to use "contact" as a verb), but now I try to avoid using the phrase "contact me..." It's actually harder to avoid than you'd think.
I'm definitely guilty of using the words "like" (as a modifier, not in place of the word "said") and "you know" far to often, e.g., "this chili is like really spicy, you know"--both add nothing to this sentence and make me sound somewhat illiterate). As a 38 year-old, you think I'd have excised this annoying pattern from my speech but I catch myself saying it all the time.
In writing, I hate to use the word "get." It's fine when speaking, but when I'm writing something I try to find a word that is more descriptive. I also have issues with the use of the word "handle" as in the phrase "the software program doesn't handle that..." I'd much rather say "the software program doesn't support that..." I don't know why it bothers me so much, there's nothing wrong with it.
And the phrases "in order to" or "in order for." The "in order" is never necessary. For example, "In order to clean the floor..." can be "To clean the floor" and "In order for the water to boil" can be "For the water to boil." The "in order" is just unnecessary extra verbiage. I work with attorneys, however, that INSIST that you can't leave out the "in order." Drives me nuts.
And I'm with kaplods on the use of the word "loose." At least according to the two online dictionaries I use, "I need to lose weight," is not an appropriate use of the word. It should be "I need to lose weight." But most of the time I think this is just a spelling error--people don't know how to spell "lose" or they know how to spell it but accidently type an extra "o"; it's easy to do and spellcheck won't catch the error.
My kids use "my bad" also, instead of ooops, I made a mistake, I actually caught myself saying it the other day. Oops, my bad.
I can't stand shut up. I think this is something my mom put in my head. We were never allowed to use it at home. We could get away with lots, but NEVER saying shut up. It IS very disrespectful. I freak out when my kids say this to one another.
I also hate when people say "Victoria's Secrets". There's only ONE secret, no need to pluralize it.
This also happens A LOT with Great Adventure. People say "Great Adventures" It's one big adventure, not many advenures. Drives me crazy.
So what you are saying is he really does know the difference???
"I don't have nowhere to be". So you really do have somewhere to be?
It's just enough to drive me insane.
This doesn't bother me, but I have thought about it a lot more since I heard it:
"I don't know why on earth I would say 'losing weight'. When I lose something, I promptly go looking for it."
1. My boss uses ALLOT instead of A LOT. He'll write an email to the VP that looks something like this: "We received allot of calls yesterday and booked allot of meetings." And since he says it's in spellcheck, it's okay to use it. Duh!
2. I'm a mortgage broker and I work for a REVERSE Mortgage company. I hate it when I hear people on the phone in this company call it a REVERSED mortgage! Ugh!
3. And the worse one of all...when people run out of things to say and end up saying "Whatever.." to everything!
4. Already mentioned, but worth mentioning it again: IRREGARDLESS is NOT a word!
5. Filler words to gap sentences annoy me. Things like "Umm" and "Like" and my boss's favorite "and so on, and so forth". There's just no need to add that!
6. Also mentioned, but worth mentioning again: GOES instead of SAID. "He goes to me..." "So, she goes.." Where are all of these people going???
7. I'm Italian and I HATE it when I hear non-Italians say "Ciao" to end a telephone call, especially in a business environment!
8. These 2 are from my nieces and I put an end to using both of these pretty quick: "Yo" and "My bad". Neither have any place in the English language.
MEand ???? did something, said something, went somewhere, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Why have we suddenly started teaching our children to always put themselves first? This has become so common, it sounds strange to most people when the proper "??? and I" is used. (However, don't forget it is "??? and me" when used objectively.)
I agree . . . I think "loose" instead of "lose" is simply a spelling or typing error . . . they probably say 'lose' just fine.
LOL I was looking to see if anyone brought that one up. Just had this topic on another board of mine about two days ago. It's a Judge Judy/Mathis/Maria (insert favorite courtroom show here) favorite.
[QUOTE=meowee;1543727]MEand ???? did something, said something, went somewhere, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. This has become so common, it sounds strange to most people when the proper "??? and I". Why have we suddenly started teaching our children to always put themselves first?QUOTE]
I actually started thinking that this had become grammatically acceptable. I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees the meaning in that!
Not only is the English language getting slaughtered more and more, but spelling is at an all-time low. Mom and I (Me and Mom? LOL) are always seeing mistakes. There is a local commercial that has a misspelling in it. We've pointed out the misspelling of biscuits on a Bob Evans advertisement and the improper West "Viriginia" (someone went a little overboard with "I") on a local restaurant placement. From someone who has spent many years proofreading, it's just something we do. And it should have been something a co-worker did before she sent out a 2,000+ mailing that said "West Virginia Society of Certified Pubic Accountants". And only one of the 2,000+ members called about it. ROFL!
"I have new shoe's today" or similar misuse of the apostrophe in plural situation. Oh really, and how exactly did your shoes come to OWN today?
Of course, I realize did my own peeve in a post the other day. For some reason that I cannot comprehend, during pregnancy (both times) I lose the ability to spell homonyms and become an apostrophe abuser. I guess I am not healed yet.
[ This has become so common, it sounds strange to most people when the proper "??? and I" is used. (However, don't forget it is "??? and me" when used objectively.)
It dives me nuts when the opposite occurs. I think "? and I " has been drilled into our heads so much that people use it when it SHOULD be "and me". I caught my husband incorrectly "correcting" the grammar in one of my daughter's books when he was reading to her.
Which leads me to my number one pet peeve which has surpassed all others---BAD GRAMMAR in children's books. ARRRRRGGGH.
